October 1, 2007

Because I know you want to talk about it, Part 2.

Britney Spears lost custody of her children today. She's 25 years old. As a young girl she was used to make money by adults who used her to express what they thought would amuse people to see a young girl express. And now she's got nothing left. It's just sad.

32 comments:

MikeinSC said...

I wouldn't call it sad for Brit as it is self-inflicted.

Sad for the kids, but empathy for her is pretty much nil.
-=Mike

Mortimer Brezny said...

Oops, she did it again. She endangered her ki-i-ids. She's not that innocent.

Anonymous said...

Now is the perfect time to pull a Cat Stevens. Just the general idea.

It's not like she is going to do much else with her career.

Bob said...

Sarah Silverman was correct in her comments at the MTV music awards, that Britney's children were "mistakes." Were children not involved in this matter, people wouldn't give a damn about Britney's self-destruction, and would even take more schadenfreude out of it than they do already.

dick said...

That the judge would give custody to Kevin should be a wakeup call to Britney if anything can be. I feel sorry but the kids. They don't stand a chance unless something changes soon.

Peter Hoh said...

Britney: Your honor, last time when you said something about foster care, I seriously thought you were talking about that Australian beer.

Beth said...

The children are the ones I feel most sorry for, but I can't help but feel sorry for her as well. I believe there's more at work than just a selfish meltdown on her part. Like Judy Garland, she was used by adults as a gravy train, packaged as a Lolita, and apparently kept from any decent educational and social development. I wouldn't be surprised if Britney were eventually diagnosed with some type of bipolar disorder. In any case, I pray she doesn't self-destruct any further.

Revenant said...

I don't think there's any need to look for a deeper psychological reason for her behavior. She's no different from countless other music-industry train wrecks. Look at Amy Winehouse or Janis Joplin, for example. Spears is just more shocking because she started off her fame playing the "innocent" role.

John Stodder said...

If you've got an attractive child and someone from Disney comes up to you and asks if you think your child might like to be on TV, RUN AWAY!! KEEP YOUR CHILD SAFE!! RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!

Beth said...

You're probably right, Revenant, that there's nothing chemically off, but she's sort of a home girl, so I'm holding on to a little sympathy.

john stodder: the types of parents who need to hear that won't listen. I don't think the Spears were hoodwinked; they could have shaped her career differently at any point. Instead they went along with the borderline child porn image. It built them a really, really nice house up in Kentwood.

Anonymous said...

"And now she's got nothing left."

Ann, you're normally not so pessimistic. 25-years-old is awful young to say a person has "nothing left." Actually, Britney has a lot left, more than many young women her age. Problem is, she can't find it in herself right now. But she will. She's going to come out of this okay. Wait and see.

michael farris said...

She's young and (still) rich and has lots of opportunities to turn her attention toward become a better person.

The question is will she do that or continue to mindlessly chase after celebrity and other consciousness-altering states.

Hoosier Daddy said...

If you've got an attractive child and someone from Disney comes up to you and asks if you think your child might like to be on TV, RUN AWAY!! KEEP YOUR CHILD SAFE!! RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!

Actually in all fairness, good parents could make that opportunity work well for everyone involved. Instead, Brit was simply cut from the same mold as her mom. Lohan's mom is no different. When you 'party' with your kid, there's a problem.

Then again if Brit takes a positive stand on the environment all will be forgiven. Going green is the new Finding Jesus.

Ann Althouse said...

I'm saying she has nothing left in the sense that she has nothing inside, no inner resources. She could get them. I'm not saying her life is hopeless, just that she didn't develop into a person of any substance. She's an empty shell.

Jennifer said...

I feel terrible for her. She spent the first 20 some odd years of her life being molded and manipulated by amoral adults. When she finally decides to break free and take control of her own life, she discovers she has almost nothing to draw on. Nothing to guide her. Pretty much, nothing. Very sad.

Anonymous said...

Feeling terrible for poor Brit? Uh....why?

All she needs to do is stop drinking and using drugs, obey a few simple laws like having a license in order to drive and her life will be very sweet indeed.

She was warned, but she loves the party life more than she loves being a custodial parent. It was her choice.

KCFleming said...

I wonder what the difference was between Britney and, say, Mandy Moore? Or Michael Jackson and Donny Osmond? Or Mackenzie Phillips and Ron Howard?

Professor Alison M. Jaggar, professor of philosophy and women studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, calls the nuclear family "a cornerstone of women's oppression: it enforces women's dependence on men, it enforces heterosexuality and it imposes the prevailing masculine and feminine character structures on the next generation." ("Feminist Politics and Human Nature," 1988)

Sixty Bricks said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sixty Bricks said...

I remember that first video on MTV and Boom! That did get attention and that was the intention. Then she became a juggernaut of sexual fantasies and she was still so young.
Remember the snake? I really hope that she can find her self. I feel for this young woman who is obviously hurting at this point. Money solves nothing. Put a stack of it in your coffin.

Jennifer said...

Pogo, I don't know much about the other four people you mentioned. But the main difference between Britney and Mandy Moore that I can tell is their family structure. From what I gather, Mandy Moore's family was much more interested in trying to maintain a reasonable grounding for her than trying to pimp her ever farther out.

ricpic said...

Why were her children taken away from her? Is there any evidence that she abused them? abandoned them? mistreated them in any way whatsoever? She had it coming? That's not a reason. The state took her children from her and you're all honky dory with that. Frightening.

Ashera said...

"Why were her children taken away from her? Is there any evidence that she abused them? abandoned them? mistreated them in any way whatsoever? She had it coming? That's not a reason. The state took her children from her and you're all honky dory with that. Frightening."

Because she was found to engage in "habitual, frequent, and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol."

I am presuming the court felt this apparent lifestyle choice placed her children in jeopardy, or in some other way made her an unfit parent. The fact that Kevin Federline, of all people, was granted custody of them, speaks volumes I think.

Ashera said...

I do feel sorry for her, although I understand why other people don't.

She's a 10-year-old trapped in a 25-year-old's body. I think her parents have a lot to answer for; they seem to have failed her in pretty much every way they could.

It's hard to act like an adult when you have no role models. I think she has absolutely no personal resources on which to draw. She can't be a good mother, because she never had one. She can't be a good wife, because she never saw that either. She never saw a normal family environment. She never interacted with normal people with normal values. One can't grow up and function properly in those circumstances.

She's basically a cipher.

Trooper York said...

Veda: You think just because you made a little money you can get a new hairdo and some expensive clothes and turn yourself into a lady. But you can't, because you'll never be anything but a common frump whose father lived over a grocery store and whose mother took in washing.
( Mildred Pierce 1945 )

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Trooper: I really appreciate your quotes and snippets. How are you generating these and able to make them relevant to the topic?

Cedarford said...

IMO, the girl needs to get out of LA, take a hiatus from show biz. Her social circle and her values there are destroying her.

Revenant said...

Why were her children taken away from her? Is there any evidence that she abused them? abandoned them? mistreated them in any way whatsoever?

Look at it the other way. Why should the children be taken away from their father? What did HE do to abuse them? Why should Spears have custody instead of Federline, given that the former appears to have a serious substance abuse problem and the latter does not?

Beth said...

Why should the children be taken away from their father?

What was their custody agreement? Did she have full custody, or did they have shared custody? I haven't followed it closely enough to know, but I don't think there's been an effort to take the kids away from their father.

Trooper York said...

Dust Bunny Queen, it's simply a photographic memory and a pornographic sensibility.

Kirk Parker said...

John Stodder, your advice is kinda selfish--shouldn't you shoot the entertainment-industry person first before you run away, thereby protecting everyone's children rather than just your own????




(Note to the figurative-language-impaired: the above is hyperbole.)

Revenant said...

I don't think there's been an effort to take the kids away from their father.

I was obliquely referring to the fact that one of them has to end up with custody (they both sought full custody of the kids), and Spears doesn't have any more of a natural right to it than Federline does.

To the best of my knowledge, they had been sharing joint custody while the court battle over full custody was being waged.

Galvanized said...

You know, I remember when her first music video came out -- the one with her teenaged self dressed seductively in the catholic girl's school uniform, unbuttoned and haltered, and, I think, licking a lollipop. My daughter was around 8 or so, and all of the kids' parents were buying their girls this Britney Spears' CD. All that I could think was, with her being a minor, "Where is her mother?!"

What's really heartbreaking is that I don't think the media is going to let up on her until they can report on a suicide. I hate this new entertainment trend of relentlessly pursuing impending trainwrecks 'til they crash and burn. And you're right -- she was relentlessly exploited as a minor and then later as a young adult, and has probably only just realized it. She could turn it around at any time, though, if she surrounded herself with the right people. I, for one, feel for her because sometimes one can believe herself too far gone to fix things...though one never is.